Above: Fidel Castro

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Just weeks after rumours of the death of Fidel Castro swirled across the Internet, the former Cuban leader has broken his silence with a new message.

In the new message, which was addressed to Cuba’s University Student Federation and released by Cuba’s government, Castro is reported to mark the 70th anniversary since his entry into the University of Havana.

Most notably, Castro weighed in on the recent rapprochement between the United States and Cuba.

“I do not trust the US policy, nor have I exchanged a word with them,” he said. “To defend peace is the duty of everyone . Whatever peaceful and negotiated solution to the problems with the United States and the people, or of any people of Latin America, they should not involve force or the use of force.

Castro said that his brother Raul, the country’s current president, had taken the “appropriate steps according to the prerogatives and powers granted by the National Assembly and the Communist Party of Cuba.”

“The serious dangers that threaten humanity today should give way to rules that are consistent with human dignity,” he wrote. “No country is excluded from such rights.”

“In this spirit I have fought and continue to fight until the last breath,” Castro wrote.